Poldark's Dilithium
by Old Toad
Summary: The Enterprise is stranded in the past and the Poldark mines offer the best hope for a return to the 23rd century. A story in two parts: Part 1 is set entirely aboard the Enterprise, Part 2 is set almost entirely in Cornwall.
1. Part 1

On the USS Enterprise, the crew is at full alert, for Starfleet Command has received intelligence of a Klingon warship in the sector. The Captain is on the bridge and Lt. Sulu, Mr. Spock and Lt. Uhura are all at their stations. The Enterprise is returning to base at warp factor 2 with the shield up.

"Mr. Spock, our new orders from Starfleet mentioned 'cloaking'; do you know what that is?"

"Yes, Captain; the Klingon Empire has been experimenting with a means of making its warships difficult to detect. Reports say they can be rendered invisible to normal scanners. We on the other hand, with our deflector shield at full strength, will be clearly visible even at a considerable range."

"That is deliberate. Starfleet believes that this warship has been fitted with 'cloaking.' By cruising along like this we hope it will reveal itself by attacking us. They won't be able to resist a 'sitting duck'."

"Your simile is a strange one, Captain, but if I interpret it correctly then that is close to our actual state. We have only one photon torpedo left and problems with the warp drive; the Enterprise is not battle ready."

"Not for a prolonged engagement, no. The plan is to gather what intelligence we can and then make a run for home as fast as our dilithium crystals permit." The Captain turns to Mr. Sulu. "Helmsman, are the phaser banks fully charged?"

"At 90%, Captain," replies Sulu.

Kirk flicks a switch on the arm of his command chair. "Engineering room, this is the bridge. What is your status?"

 _"Scotty here, Capt'n. The dilithium crystals are holding, but the full shield is putting a strain on them even at this warp speed."_

"Scotty, if we had to get out of here in a hurry what speed could we manage?"

 _"With a half shield we should be able to maintain warp 4 for perhaps an hour."_

"And in a real emergency?"

 _"We'd be lucky to get to warp 6 before they blew. Then we would be down to impulse engines and a low-level shield. Any Klingon ship could blow us out of the water!"_

"OK, Scotty; keep nursing those crystals. Mr. Sulu, maintain course but drop to warp factor 1.5."

"Aye, Captain; warp factor 1.5 it is."

"Lieutenant Uhura, are you monitoring for any Klingon communications?"

"Yes, Captain; on all frequencies."

"Have you heard anything?"

"Negative, Captain."

"Mr. Sulu, have your detectors shown anything?"

"Negative, Captain; both short and long range detectors show nothing across all energies."

"Mr. Spock, what are your recommendations?"

"If I understand early military terminology, 'steady as she goes'. Do I have the correct idiom?"

Before Kirk can reply, there is a cry from Sulu. "Captain, I'm seeing faint signs of a warp drive; I'm trying to get a fix on it."

"Could it be Klingon?"

"Sorry, Captain, it's gone again."

Kirk thinks for a moment. "Chances are that there is a 'cloaked' Klingon ship out there; it has seen us and may be preparing to attack."

"Affirmative, Captain," says Spock. "They will have noticed that our deflector shield is up and are wondering whether to venture an attack."

"See if you can locate them, Spock. Meanwhile, we'll carry on as if nothing has happened."

For an hour, nothing happens and no further sign of a Klingon ship is detected. Kirk decides to pretend that the Enterprise is short of power. "Drop our speed to warp factor one. Lower the deflector shield to half power."

A few minutes later, Sulu is able to report. "Sensors are showing that warp drive again, Captain. It is to our stern and seems to be following us. It's too faint to identify. There's nothing visible."

"Nevertheless," says Kirk, "bring up the rear view on the main screen. Prepare to fire phasers."

"Aye, Captain."

Everyone on the bridge, except Mr. Spock, stares at the screen expectantly; only distant stars can be seen. Then Uhura breaks the silence. "Captain, we are being hailed; voice only." She switches the call through to the speakers.

 _ **"Federation ship, you cannot see us, but you know we are here. Our weapons are trained upon you. You have two minutes to surrender your ship or it will be destroyed. EOT"**_

This ultimatum is relayed throughout the Enterprise. Scotty shakes his head over the dilithium crystals and goes to see what can be done with auxiliary power sources. The order for battle stations is heard, and in the medical bay Dr. McCoy mutters under his breath. The one remaining photon torpedo is primed and made ready to fire. On the bridge, meanwhile, Captain Kirk has given the order to increase the deflector shield to maximum. "Mr. Sulu, Mr. Spock, can we pin down the location of that ship?"

"It is very unlikely we would strike it with our phasers, we will have to wait until it reveals itself," says Spock.

Surprisingly, the Klingon ship does just that, fading into view before their eyes. It is a light cruiser. "Fire phasers!" yells the Captain. He is blinded by a violet flash – not white or red but plain, uniform violet across his whole field of vision. Then a massive jolt, total darkness and complete silence follow. Groggy at first, he cannot tell whether he has been unconscious, but becomes aware that others on the bridge are calling out to each other.

"Kirk here; is anyone injured?"

"Spock speaking, Captain. Everyone on the bridge is accounted for. No injuries sustained."

"What happened, Spock? What is our situation?"

"We are alive and have air pressure and gravity. All ship's systems are down. If the emergency lights do not come on soon, then our situation could be serious."

"Because we can't see anything?"

"Because it means that the ship is dead."

"Any theory as to what happened?"

"None yet, Captain, but I am wondering what happened to the Klingons. We are helpless; why have they not finished us off?"

"I have been thinking the same thing. … Mr. Sulu, do you have any ideas?"

"We did fire one phaser burst, Captain. Perhaps they too are crippled?"

At this point, the first emergency light comes on. It seems bright after the Stygian darkness they have been in. Other emergency lights follow. Captain Kirk permits himself a sigh of relief: they might get out of this alive. "Spock, how long before we have internal communications?"

"That should come next, Captain."

Right on cue, there is a crackle. " _This is Scott in engineering. Are you there, bridge?"_

"Kirk here, Scotty. We currently have emergency lighting but nothing else. Can you give me a report?"

 _"All I know for sure right now is that we suffered a sudden and total loss of all power and that emergency backup is beginning to switch in. I'll report again when I know more, Capt'n."_

Over the next few minutes, various sections report in to the bridge. There are only minor injuries to crew, but bulkhead doors remain sealed and movement around the ship is limited. Scotty calls the bridge.

 _"Capt'n, main auxiliary power has been restored, and most systems should be online shortly. This will restore control to the bridge. There's very little sign of damage. That's the good news. The bad news is that one of our remaining dilithium crystals has perished. That means no warp drive, no deflector shield yet, and no way to recharge the phaser banks."_

"Thanks, Scotty. Can anything be done for the shield? Will we have impulse engines?"

 _"I'm working on the shield now, Capt'n. If there's no damage to the engines, you should have power in a few minutes."_

"What about the transporter and the ship's computer?"

 _"The computer should be available to you very soon, Capt'n. And they're starting to run tests in the transporter room now."_

As more and more systems come back online, activity on the bridge grows frantic. They establish that the Enterprise's hull had not been breached and that damage is minor. They are in a star system and close to an earth-like planet. There is no sign of the Klingon cruiser, but they have no way of knowing if it is near and 'cloaked'. Lt. Uhura is unable to receive any signals or make contact with Starfleet Command. Yet, both she and Mr. Spock are certain that the Enterprise's comms are operational.

The phaser bank is totally depleted, and their only weapon is the one remaining photon torpedo. Mr. Scott reports that the impulse engines are ready for use, but the deflector shield remains down. He confirms that without at least one new dilithium crystal, the warp drive cannot be used.

Captain Kirk orders that the impulse drive be used to put them into orbit around the planet. He again asks Spock for any explanation of what has happened to them.

"Captain, we are far from the position where we were struck. The ship seems to have been hit by some new Klingon weapon. I noticed a purple flash before the blackout; that was something new to my experience."

As they approached the planet, Spock scans it. "That is odd. Captain, the scanner shows many tens of millions of humans on that planet."

Uhura is unable to detect any transmissions from the planet. Meanwhile, the Captain has been examining its image intently. "Mr. Spock, that planet looks very much like Earth. We must have some record of it!"

"Most remarkable," says Spock. "This system matches the Solar system precisely. …That is Earth."

"There must be some mistake!"

"There is no room for doubt; the fit is exact. That is Earth and the Moon."

"Then what has happened? There are no visible lights, no radio transmissions, no artificial satellites. And didn't you say the population was only 'many millions'? There must have been some unimaginable catastrophe!"

"There is another possible explanation, Captain. Whatever happened moved us both in space and time; we have been thrown several hundred years into the past."

"Is that possible?"

"I have set the ship's computer to take astronomical measurements and determine the date. Then we will know."

Within the hour it is confirmed: the data precisely fit the year 1790 AD.

"Spock, is there any way back – to our own time I mean?"

"The only known way is to sling-shot the Enterprise around the sun. For that we need warp drive."

"And for that we need dilithium! Is there no other way?"

"None, Captain, and there is no way we can wait nearly five hundred years."

"We can't expect to be rescued either. Is there any source of dilithium within the Solar system, any source at all?"

"Mr. Scott has been looking into that, Captain. He says that a few, poor quality crystals are to be found on Earth itself. We won't know if they are of any use until we find one."

"Captain, permission to speak," says Sulu. "Could we send or leave a message for Starfleet Command to find at the right time? They could send back dilithium crystals for us to use."

"Spock?" asks Kirk.

"The sling-shot technique cannot be used to travel back so far into the past. However, we got here, so others can follow. They might baulk, though, at vaporizing a cruiser in order to try."

"Vaporizing!"

"Correct, Captain. The evidence suggests that the violet flash we all saw was the Klingon cruiser being converted to white-hot plasma. Without the deflector shield, the Enterprise would have been destroyed. Instead, we were hurled away in space and time. I can only surmise that our phaser strike revealed a fatal defect in their cloaking device."

"Nonetheless," says Kirk, "We can still try that avenue. Mr. Sulu, come up with some ideas as to how a message might be delivered at the right time."

"Aye, sir. But I am wondering how we ended up so close to Earth, the odds must be astronomical!"

"Not necessarily," says Spock. "We were traveling on course for the Solar System when the event occurred."

"We can afford to marvel at our good luck once we are safely back in our own time," scolds Kirk. "Mr. Spock, we must look for dilithium on Earth; that seems our best chance. Does Scotty know where to look?"

"There are several likely locations in the Earth's crust. If we concentrate on areas where mines have already been dug, then the optimal is in Britain, a place called …" He consults his notes, "Corn Wall."


	2. Part 2

It is not particularly early in the morning, but it is towards the end of the year 1790 and the sun is only just rising. Doctor Dwight Enys has been up all night attending a particularly difficult childbirth and is close to exhaustion; he allows his horse to set the pace as he rides along the mule track. Two men are standing together by the side of the track waiting for him to reach them. He hopes that they will not delay him; he dreads that his professional services might be required. As he approaches, he can see that they are strangers, dressed in a most unconventional style and without hat or cloak. One calls out to him as soon as he is close.

"Excuse us, sir; we are strangers here and require directions."

Dwight cannot place the accent; it is certainly not local, possibly not English, the man's slightly odd turn of phrase certainly suggests a foreigner. He brings his horse to a halt and looks down on them. "How may I be of service?"

"Are there mines hereabouts? We are looking for a mine owner or operator – someone in charge."

Too tired to do more than answer and be on his way, Dwight looks around, not sure for a moment where they are. "You are indeed strangers to Cornwall if you must ask whether there are mines! Tin and copper are the staples of this area. This is Poldark land; you need Captain Poldark of Nampara." Briefly he points them in the right direction, bids them a good day and rides on.

…..

There is a knock at the door, which is opened by a woman wearing a mob-cap and apron. From behind her a man's voice calls. "Who is it, Mrs. Gimlett?"

"Strangers, sur; men. Two of 'em." She looks Kirk and Scotty up and down and does not seem impressed by what she can see. "Yes?"

"This is Nampara? Is there a Captain Poldark here; we would like to talk with him," asks the younger-looking one.

A man in his late twenties comes to the door. "I am Captain Ross Poldark. You don't look like lawyers; I've had my fill of the law for a while. Are there just the two of you; are you on foot? My man can see to your horses."

"We are alone," says Scotty, "And we are on foot."

"Then come in, gentlemen, and we can discuss your business over a drink." He leads them through into the parlour. "I have no whisky to offer you on a cold morning, and perhaps it is too early in the day for serious drinking. Will you settle for tea?" He calls for Mrs. Gimlett to bring in a pot and sits his visitors down. "A Scottish voice is rare in Cornwall; are you both from Scotland?"

"I am from America," admits Captain Kirk.

"I got this in the fighting there," says Poldark, pointing to his scar. "And I saw too many good men die. Might I inquire whether you were involved?"

Captain Kirk has his answer, carefully devised to mislead while being technically truthful. "I should have given you my name, I am Captain James Kirk. My home town is in the Louisiana Territory, and I was not involved in the War of Independence. This is Mr. Montgomery Scott, and he is a genuine Scotsman, as you have observed."

Mrs. Gimlett comes in with a loaded tray and sets it down. "Shall I pour, sur?

"No, find your mistress and ask her to join us; she will not wish to miss such interesting visitors."

"She quit the house early, sur, as she oft'n do."

"Then send someone to look for her."

She bobs a curtsy and leaves. Captain Poldark ignores the tray and concentrates on the strange men. "What brings you to Cornwall and to my door? It must be a matter of some importance."

"It is of great importance to us, and we can make it worth your while too. We wish to trade. You do own a mine I believe?" Kirk asks.

"Wheal Leisure is on my land, and I am the principal shareholder. But if it is copper ore you want, then you must bid for it at the monthly auction like everyone else."

"No, no; it's something much rarer that we are after. Show him, Mr. Scott."

Mr. Scott opens the strange, shiny case he has been clutching and brings out a piece of crystal the size of a hen's egg. "We call it dilithium," he says. "Have yuh seen the like?"

Poldark nods. "A few times; it turns up occasionally. The miners have various names for it. It is most friable, and not considered to be of any value."

"Normally it isn't," says Mr. Scott. "We're looking for large crystals which have not been damaged; crystals that are still in the ground."

Poldark frowns. "You mentioned 'trade'; what have you to offer, assuming such crystals can be found?"

Captain Kirk answers. "Gold! We will pay generously for any good crystals that can be found." He studies Captain Poldark's face carefully, but finds it difficult to read. "To prove it, I can give you two small pieces now. The first is to buy your goodwill and pay for the privilege of our spending the day down your mine, searching." He places it on the table and slides it towards his host.

Poldark glances at the tiny bar, but maintains a poker face. "And the second?"

"That is to compensate you for not asking awkward questions."

He slides the second bar along to Poldark who picks them up. "Perhaps an ounce each and heavy enough to be gold. I don't recognize the markings."

"The '25g' refers to the weight, which is a little under an ounce. As for the other markings, that is an awkward question."

Poldark smiles for the first time. "Assuming you do find the crystals you want - which seems unlikely to me - how much are you willing to pay for them?"

"We can negotiate that, but at least their own weight in pure gold."

"You have the gold with you?"

It is Kirk's turn to smile. "We did not think it wise to carry so much about; we will produce it when the time comes."

Demelza, who has been listening in the doorway unseen, chooses this moment to come in, and the three men rise to their feet to greet her. Introductions are made and then her husband asks her if she would see to the tea.

"Oh, Ross; you aint very hospitable! Gentlemen, have you breakfasted? May I at least offer you cake? I'm sure we have a cake or two in the larder."

The two strangers assure her that a cup of tea is quite sufficient.

"So gentlemen," she asks. "Should my husband agree, when would you wish to visit Wheal Leisure?"

"Today, Mrs. Poldark," says Kirk.

"I have ne'er been down a mine, sirs, and don't intend to, but I was raised among miners. It seems t'me that to find what you seek be mighty difficult and liable to take weeks."

Kirk gives his most winning smile. "A good point, Mrs. Poldark! Fortunately, we have a means of divining the location of a crystal. If there is even one good crystal in the mine, we can find it today."

Leaving their guests in the parlour, Ross and Demelza move to the kitchen to discuss them in private.

"Ross, where did these men come from? I've ne'er seen anyone like them. They seem to be wearing some sort of uniform of a cloth I've ne'er seen afore. And they are so smooth of face – they must have been shaved this very day."

He nods. "If there was just the one, I'd think him an escaped lunatic; but two? They may be members of some strange religious group."

"Are you going to take their gold?"

"They seem harmless, and our circumstances are strained. I'd be mad not to follow this seam and see what it yields."

A few minutes later, Captain Poldark is striding towards the Wheal Leisure mine with the two men, answering their questions as best he can. They pause by a spoil heap, and Mr. Scott produces his divining device, which he called a 'tricorder'. "This is encouraging," he pronounces. "There are signs of many fragments in the pile."

Poldark finds his friend Paul Daniel, a miner he can trust, and instructs him to escort the two men down and around the mine. "Take them wherever they want to go or see. Answer their questions and look after them; I doubt either has been underground before. They are to look only, is that clear? They are to take nothing away with them, not so much as a pebble!"

Having handed over the two men, he hastens back to Nampara and instructs Gimlett to saddle his horse. "I am riding to Truro to find whether these little bars are the real thing or fairy gold. You are to ask around, ask if strangers have been seen recently, what boats have come ashore."

Meanwhile, Kirk and Scotty are going underground with lighted candles on their hats. For the next three hours, the two 23rd century spacemen climb up and down greasy wooden ladders, shuffle stooped along narrow ill-ventilated tunnels and wade through chilly pools of murky water. In that time, Scotty gets a fix on just two crystals of any quality; they are far below the current diggings and might be impossible to reach. Tired and discouraged, they clamber up to daylight and the fresh air blowing in from the sea. They trudge back to Nampara, muscles aching.

Ross Poldark is in good humour; the two little bars were gold of the highest purity. The two strangers are invited to dine, which they readily accept. Over the meal, they explain to the Poldarks that they must look further afield and ask for advice on whom to approach next. Poldark is reluctant to let them go. In particular, he does not want them and their gold getting into the grasping hands of the Warleggans. "I do have a second mine; it hasn't been worked for years, but I can take you down this very afternoon. The autumn rains will have filled the lower levels, but there is still plenty to explore. The old diggings are extensive."

Soon, fortified by a little of Captain Poldark's brandy, the three men are at the entrance shaft to Wheal Grace. "Can you swim?" asks Poldark. "There is a lot of water down there, and only the three of us if one falls in. Go carefully on the ladders; there will be rotten rungs. I'll go first."

Down below, Poldark watches in fascination as Mr. Scott uses the tricorder. "Mr. Scott, a question if you please; can your device be used to divine for other minerals, or is it good only for your crystals?"

Very soon, Scotty is pointing out where a rich lode of copper ore is to be found. Captain Poldark is impressed that this agrees with what Mark Daniel had told him before his escape to France. Minutes later, Scotty and Kirk are elated to discover that the single intact dilithium crystal they have detected lies in a tunnel roof, only inches above their heads. With the delicacy of a brain surgeon, Mr. Scott extracts the crystal and fits it into the special container he has brought with him.

Back at Nampara, Mr. Scott and Captain Poldark go inside while Captain Kirk hangs back. Poldark hears Kirk talking to someone, though there is nobody about. When Kirk comes in moments later, he is carrying something which he did not have earlier and places on the table. "I hope, Captain Poldark, that we need not bicker over our agreement. I have here two gold bars ten times the size of the two you already have."

"Generous indeed, but I would swap one of them for your tricorder."

"That is not possible, Captain. Even it were, I would advise against it; you do not need it to find copper or tin. You have your own expertise in that. As for dilithium crystals, we have found all we need, and you will have to take my word for it that you are most unlikely to find another buyer."

Poldark has come to trust Captain Kirk, despite his lack of openness, and the two captains shake hands. Pleading the need for haste, Kirk and Scotty say goodbye to Ross and Demelza and leave. They are not seen again, disappearing as mysteriously as they arrived.

Demelza asks Ross if he is certain this gold is as good as the first. He grins back at her. "I am certain of it. I shall take one of these bars to Bodmin; I'll get a better price for it there, and no questions asked. The other I'll keep in case of dire necessity."

"Will it pay off all our debts, Ross?"

"No, but my impending bankruptcy is at least delayed. More importantly, I have the confidence to re-open Wheal Grace, now I know there is copper to be found there. There is war with France coming and the price of copper can only rise."

…..

On the USS Enterprise, Scotty and Kirk are checked over by Dr. McCoy as soon as they arrive via the Transporter. "You could be bringing aboard anything from smallpox to tapeworms, Jim. Not to mention fleas and lice." As soon as they are cleared, Scotty hurries off to Engineering to get the new crystal installed and tested. Kirk stays chatting with his friend McCoy, and tells him of their brief experience of King George's England. McCoy is amused that it was the striking young Demelza Poldark who made greatest impression on the Captain. He suggests that Kirk have a little present for Demelza transported down.

The dilithium crystals have to power the warp drive along the sling-shot trajectory Spock has calculated while maintaining the deflector shield at full power as they skirt close to the sun, so there is much to do before Scotty and Spock are satisfied that the crystals will hold long enough to get them back to their own time. Then the course is fed into the navigation computer, a present for Demelza is beamed down, and Captain Kirk gives the order everyone on board has been waiting for: "Helmsman, take us out of orbit. Enterprise is going home!"

…..

In Nampara, Mrs. Gimlett presents Demelza with a strange object she has found at their door. "Whatever is it, mum?"

Demelza laughs out loud, amazed and delighted. "Why, I have seen one afore, at the Warleggan's grand ball. They made a great fuss 'bout havin' one; 'tis a pineapple!"


End file.
